What's the difference between the four File Results in ASP.NET MVC

asp.net-mvc file resulttype
Robert MacLean picture Robert MacLean · Jul 27, 2009 · Viewed 43.9k times · Source

ASP.NET has four different types of file results:

  • FileContentResult: Sends the contents of a binary file to the response.
  • FilePathResult: Sends the contents of a file to the response
  • FileResult: Returns binary output to write to the response
  • FileStreamResult: Sends binary content to the response by using a Stream instance

Those descriptions are take from MSDN and with the exception of the FileStreamResult the first three sound identical. So what is the difference between them?

Answer

maciejkow picture maciejkow · Jul 27, 2009

FileResult is an abstract base class for all the others.

  • FileContentResult - you use it when you have a byte array you would like to return as a file
  • FilePathResult - when you have a file on disk and would like to return its content (you give a path)
  • FileStreamResult - you have a stream open, you want to return its content as a file

However, you'll rarely have to use these classes - you can just use one of Controller.File overloads and let ASP.NET MVC do the magic for you.

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